Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1887-05-26
CHARLES LoFTEN's WALK,


Charles Loften took a car and rode
out to the end of the line, then he walk
ed on for some distance and turned up
| the hill to the left and took the road
which leads down through Dead Mans
! Canon.
AS he walked down the rough road
he noticed little child playing around
Il pile of wood which her father had
been chopping.
Farther down he saw two girls at a
spring, and as the younger drank from
a tin pail she said to her sister, "what
splendid water this is.
Two men drawing stone left their
horses and went to the girls for drink.
Some negroes were laughing and
talking around rough house on the
side of the bluff
All these things Loften noticed as he
walked, and he also noticed two men,
evidently tramps, who sat on stone in
a lonely part of the canon talking in
low tones, which ceased entirely as he
came nearer.
Loften went out through the canon
! and crossed the tracks to the brewery,
where he was going to look at some
new machinery.
After he had examined the machine
he went up on the roof of the building,
from which there was an excellent view
of the valley.
He watched the river winding way
past cultivated lands and patches of
forests, dust sandy flats and rocky
bluffs. He noticed the tall sycamores,
with their white bark, scattered over
the valley. In the distance he could
see the piled-up stone and the tall
masts of the derricks for moving it
where a great bridge was being built,
and near by the cluster of houses cover
ed with tar paper, where the workmcn
lived. On the outside was the city
with its towers and chimncys, and over
all the dark cloud of smoke curling
upward. And then there was the
river again, and more flats and more
bluffs and more cultivated land, forest
and whitcbarked sycamores.
Loftcn went down and started for
home. As he went up the canon the
men still sat on the stone whispering
together. and again stopped when he
came near.
1t was growing dark. The men who
had been drawing stone had left their
wagon by the road and gone for the
night. He met one old negro carrying
Il pail of water. There was no talking
before the house now. The spring was
deserted. and the water ran quietly
down the hill. The little girl and the
man who had been chopping wood
were gone too.
Near the head of the canon Loften
met well dressed man going down
They nodded as they passed and said
something about the bad walking.
Loften noticed that black clonds
were gathering, and when he reached
the top of the bluff it had become quite
dark. He took car and went home,
and as he went into his house he heard
the roar of distant thunder.
As the flashes of lightning for a
second illumincd the lower end of the
Dead Mans Canon well dressed man
lay in the road near the rock where the
two .tramps had been whispering to-
gether-but the tramps were gone.
1t was still moonlight when the
quarry-men started for their work.
The storm had gone by and the sky
was bright with stars.
As they entered the canon the pal
ing of the moon indicated that the sun
would soon be up and the sky was al
ready growing red in the east. A
light mist iioated among the tops of
the sycamore trees on the flats.
Suddenly the men stopped.
Right before them on the road lay a
man. His clothes were soaked by the
rain, which had fallen in torrents, and
his white colla- and cuffs were soiled
with mud His head was covered with
mud and blood, and an ugly cash in his
throat showed how he had died.
One of the men at once started for
the town to notify the authorities.
The coroner came and took charge
of the body, and men We're set at work
to try and discover the murderer.
Inquiry at the brewery brought out
the fact that a strange man had been
seen there late the previous afternoon.
and an old negro testified to having
seen him going up the canon. A con-
ductor on one of the cars said man
answering the description given by the
men at the brewery and the old negro
mad ridden on his car. A grocer's man
who happened to be driving by had seen
this man and identified him as Loften.
| When the officers came to his house
Lotten was writing, and upon being
told that he was wanted went at once.
thinking there was some mistake which
could be easily explained, and it was
not until brought before the magistrate
that he learned he was charged with
| murder.
He told his story rs we have already
done above, and pleaded his innocence.
but the evidence against him seemed
too strong, and he was sent to prison
to await his trial.
enc one else had seen the two tramps,
nor could any traces of them be found.
Loften lay awake all night in his cell.
He knew that he was innocent. but
how was he to prove itp He had al.
ways had a Stainless reputation, and
now he was in prison accused O,
murder! He thought of the grief and
shame it would cause to his friends.
then he broke down and cried like q
child.
4 After that he remembered nothing.
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